


Bowel Movements and Waste Disposal

by jacquelee



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Community: gameofcards, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 06:04:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5405753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacquelee/pseuds/jacquelee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Have you ever wondered about the fact that Seven needed to learn to eat food again and that that also entailed… well, getting rid of that food again? I have. This is my take on how that specific lesson in human physiology went. :D Set right after The Raven.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bowel Movements and Waste Disposal

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a challenge at [Game of Cards](http://gameofcards.livejournal.com), for the prompt "Missing Scene".

After the incident with the Raven, Seven had done her best to show the crew and most of all the Captain how much she did want to be on board Voyager, that she did not want to rejoin the Borg. 

That was why she had asked Janeway to accompany her for her second attempt at oral consumption of nutrients. She had found herself unaccustomedly nervous to try it again on her own, and especially to talk to Neelix again after she had attacked him the first time she had tried this. 

Before, she had truthfully answered that she did not feel anything when she was accused of having committed atrocities in the name of the Borg, but now, it hadn't been her as a drone, it had been her. Of course, her programming had taken over because of the signal from the beacon, but still, she could feel that part of her inside, and it made her uncomfortable that it had surfaced so easily. 

That if it had been a Borg ship she might have caused the assimilation of the entire crew aboard Voyager. She had only been here for a few weeks and she remembered vividly how much she had rallied against all of them, against Janeway, against being cut off from the Hive. 

But now she was an individual. The crew of Voyager, especially its captain, were becoming her family. And she did not want to give that up again. She did not want them to be assimilated. She did not want to rejoin the Borg.

So she apologized to Neelix, feeling encouraged by Janeway's presence next to her. It went better than she had hoped, Neelix being good spirited about the whole thing and offering her food instead of dwelling on the subject. 

She retreated to a table with the captain, still not sure how oral consumption worked exactly, and still not very comfortable about the whole idea. But the captain smiled at her encouragingly, talking her through the process like Neelix had done before. Both were good teachers, though Seven had to admit that she much preferred the company of Janeway over Neelix. 

Eating was a curious feeling. She didn't dislike or like it, it was just… strange. To grind something up with your teeth and then swallow it, feeling it go down your esophagus. And then feeling it moving in your stomach, even hours after you ate it. 

The meal had been two hours ago and Seven felt rather uncomfortable. She had returned to the cargo bay to get some work done but her working bowels were distracting her. Briefly she considered going to sickbay, but she discarded that idea. 

The doctor had told her about how her human bowels would start working and how she would have to consume nutrients and then dispose of the waste that was accumulating in her body, but from his description this entailed going to a specific room designated for waste disposal and removing parts of her clothing. 

And while he was her doctor and she knew he saw her body during his exams, this seemed to be an activity that was not medical in nature and therefore she hesitated calling on him to show her the details. 

No, the doctor didn't seem like a good choice in this matter, even though the movements in her bowels now started to seem like a medical problem. But first she wanted to try talking to the captain. After all, Janeway had reassured her that she could come to her with any problem. And she felt far more comfortable in her company than the doctor's. 

So she called the captain and asked if she could come to cargo bay two. No, it wasn't urgent, but it would be good if she could come as soon as possible. 

A few minutes later, she heard the door opening and closing again. She couldn't really react to it as she would have wanted to, because at this time she was crouching behind her work console, desperate for nobody but the captain to see her in this condition. It was bad enough to be this weak, having an audience in this moment would make it much worse. 

"Seven?" 

Janeway appeared and when she saw Seven, she immediately crouched beside her and put one hand on her shoulder. 

"Are you alright? What is wrong? I will call the doctor." 

"No! I think my bowels are… trying to dispose of the waste that has been… consumed together with the nutrients. I did not know that this experience would be so… distracting."

Janeway didn't say anything for a little while and when Seven looked at her she seemed to try to suppress laughter. Seven frowned. 

"This is funny?" 

Now Janeway actually laughed but immediately looked guilty and empathetic. 

"No. No, it's not funny. It's just, experiencing bowel movements for the first time in twenty years… I imagine the feeling is pretty… intense." 

"It is very unpleasant indeed." 

"Sadly, that's how the human body works. You eat, you have to poop." 

"Poop?" 

"Relieve yourself. Discard the waste. Go to the loo. You know."

"No, I don't. The doctor explained the process but I don't know what exactly it entails." 

Now Janeway looked a bit taken aback while still quite amused. 

"I guess we'll figure it out as we go. Let's get you to the lavatory. Can you walk?" 

"I think so." 

Janeway helped her up and supported her as they walked to the cargo bay door. 

"I do not enjoy this experience. This bodily function is crude and imperfect." 

"I have to agree. But that's what it is." 

They walked the corridor in silence, thankfully not meeting any crewmembers. One of the ship's lavatories was close by, so they entered it. They hit a slight obstacle in Seven's suit having to be opened in the back and her having to take off the entire upper part of it. 

Since she wore undergarments, this did not mean exposing her entire upper body, and for the rest of the procedure, Janeway was talking to her while standing next to the little wall that was separating this specific toilet from the others in the room, which enabled her to hear Seven but not see her without craning her neck, which she did not attempt. 

Seven understood that this was a gesture done to respect her privacy.

As a Borg she did not have a concept of nudity or of her own naked body not being something appropriate to show to other people – nudity of course being a concept Borg did not have since the exoskeleton provided as much if not more protection as garments did – but now that she was among humans she understood that apart from sexual intercourse and medical purposes, one generally did not expose oneself to others. 

She did need assistance in understanding how exactly one sat on the oval seat with a hole inside of it. The toilet. Not that she didn't understand the general idea of it, but how exactly did one position oneself on this… thing? But verbal instructions should suffice.

She tried her best to follow the captains instructions on how to sit on the toilet seat and how to position her suit around her ankles so as to not stain it. But once she was marginally comfortable, she had no idea what to do now. 

"What do I do?" 

"Press." 

"What?"

"Your muscles. Your bowels want to get rid of the waste so you follow the feelings in your body and press." 

Seven tried. It was a very curious sensation. Relieving, certainly, but also not very comfortable. Something was pressed out of her body and into the toilet. 

"It seems to work. I certainly feel relieved." 

"Great! Just keep it up until you feel like there's nothing coming anymore." 

"Thank you." 

"Of course. I told you you can call me whenever there is a problem." 

Seven smiled, still sitting on the toilet. 

"I think the bowel movements have ceased. What do I do now?" 

"Ummm, you wipe." 

"Wipe what?" 

"Do you see the little roll of paper next to the toilet?" 

Seven looked around.

"Yes."

"Take a few sheets off of the roll and fold them up into a comfortable size to fit in your hand." 

Seven did as instructed, discovering that the roll of paper had little perforations after each sheet as to easier take it off. Interesting invention. She folded the paper and held it in her hand. 

"I folded the paper. What do I do now?" 

There was a little bit of hesitation. 

"You take the paper and… wipe your butt." 

"My butt?" 

"Your anus." 

There was a hint of laughter in that statement. 

"Anus is funny?" 

She heard some more laughter. 

"Depends on who you ask." 

Seven scowled. 

"I am asking you." 

Some more laughter. 

"Of course. Yes. Yes, anus can be funny. In certain situations." 

"Like this one?" 

"Yes, like this one." 

Seven was still a little confused as to how to wipe her anus with a little sheet of paper but she tried and it seemed to be successful. But since she didn't want to leave any fecal matter, she took another few sheets off the role and wiped again. It was still a curious thing to do but she now had gotten a little more secure as to how to do it exactly. 

She seemed to have been taken a bit too long since the captain seemed to get a little worried.

"All good in there?" 

"Yes. I have now wiped my anus. Or my butt." 

She deliberately said it to elicit some more laughter and she was not disappointed. She made a mental note to mention anus and butt in as many situations as possible. Hearing Janeway laugh was one of her favourite things and this seemed to be a sure way to achieve that goal. 

"Good. Good. Can you get up and dress by yourself?" 

"Yes, I believe so." 

Seven stood up and put her suit back on. 

When she exited the stall, the captain smiled at her. 

"See, that wasn't that bad." 

"How often do I have to repeat this exercise?" 

"Depends. Probably about once or twice a day." 

Seven looked at her in disbelief.

"How do humans function like this?" 

Janeway laughed again. 

"Well, for once, we make a lot of poop jokes." 

She smiled and put an arm around Seven, who definitely welcomed that gesture. 

"You'll get used to it." 

When she looked into the captain's eyes, still sparkling with amusement, Seven believed her.


End file.
